Ryan Sherlock has been one of the best domestic road riders in recent seasons and has a pretty serious palmarés. However, he's changed his focus to off-road riding in the last 12 months and is enjoying that discipline for the time being.
By Brian Canty
Ryan Sherlock has said he’s undecided what he'll do this year on the road in Ireland, if anything.
The Monaghan man raced very little in 2015 at home as he committed to off-road disciplines.
He raced with distinction around the world, even managing a stage win in a race at the Mongolian mountain bike challenge and a Top 10 in an XCM World Cup.
Sherlock spends many months of the year travelling with his job and as well as not having the time to commit to the road, the motivation is another reason why we probably won’t see him much in Ireland.
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“I may do a few races but only if I'm motivated to,” he said.
“The same races in a different year don't really do it for me unless it is one of the hard, hard races where it comes down to the last man standing and where simply racing against one or two strong teams isn’t the name of the game.
Off-road riding has taken Sherlock to all corners of the planet - even Mongolia, where he won a stage last year.
“At the moment, I’m really enjoying off-road riding again and I’m probably not going to keep at this level for too much longer.
"So I want to get the best out of myself while I can and with off-road I can race against the world’s best.
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“I’m still in good shape and train as I always have – I hit a lifetime 20-minute power PB a few weeks ago in Mallorca.
"So the power is still definitely there but I’m more focused on the efforts you make for off-road rather than the on-road.”
Sherlock has always been a one-to-watch in any race he entered in Ireland and only for that tag he’d probably have won a lot more.
The likes of the overall at the Suir Valley Three-Day and the Kerry Group Rás Mumhan are two of the big ones that have eluded him.
In fact, despite being one of the strongest in both – as well as the An Post Rás - he never won a stage of either.
Sherlock came very close to winning Rás Mumhan but lost the yellow jersey on the last day (Photo: pat Doherty)
“It’s true, but racing in Ireland is hard and when you don’t have a big team it’s even harder.
“That said, I still love it and I enjoy it, it’s just there are many things in life I want to do with Mel and when you’re in the road-racing bubble it’s hard.”
A former double stage winner of the Suir Valley Three-Day from 2012 he also took 16 wins and 33 podiums that year.
“The only stage races in Ireland I’ve done and not either won or at least won stages in are Rás Mumhan and the Rás.
“2012 was the only year I really focused on the Irish road scene and I got 16 wins, 33 podiums and cyclist of the year, as well as being the highest-ranked rider.
“I think my biggest problem that year in the Rás was not having the confidence but I later got that when I started to get on the podium in Belgium.”
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